Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B23—MACHINE TOOLS; METAL-WORKING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • B23B—TURNING; BORING
  • B23B3/00—General-purpose turning-machines or devices, e.g. centre lathes with feed rod and lead screw; Sets of turning-machines
  • B23B3/06—Turning-machines or devices characterised only by the special arrangement of constructional units
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B23—MACHINE TOOLS; METAL-WORKING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • B23Q—DETAILS, COMPONENTS, OR ACCESSORIES FOR MACHINE TOOLS, e.g. ARRANGEMENTS FOR COPYING OR CONTROLLING; MACHINE TOOLS IN GENERAL CHARACTERISED BY THE CONSTRUCTION OF PARTICULAR DETAILS OR COMPONENTS; COMBINATIONS OR ASSOCIATIONS OF METAL-WORKING MACHINES, NOT DIRECTED TO A PARTICULAR RESULT
  • B23Q1/00—Members which are comprised in the general build-up of a form of machine, particularly relatively large fixed members
  • B23Q1/01—Frames, beds, pillars or like members; Arrangement of ways
  • B23Q1/015—Frames, beds, pillars
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B23—MACHINE TOOLS; METAL-WORKING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • B23Q—DETAILS, COMPONENTS, OR ACCESSORIES FOR MACHINE TOOLS, e.g. ARRANGEMENTS FOR COPYING OR CONTROLLING; MACHINE TOOLS IN GENERAL CHARACTERISED BY THE CONSTRUCTION OF PARTICULAR DETAILS OR COMPONENTS; COMBINATIONS OR ASSOCIATIONS OF METAL-WORKING MACHINES, NOT DIRECTED TO A PARTICULAR RESULT
  • B23Q1/00—Members which are comprised in the general build-up of a form of machine, particularly relatively large fixed members
  • B23Q1/01—Frames, beds, pillars or like members; Arrangement of ways
  • B23Q1/017—Arrangements of ways
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
  • Y10T—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION
  • Y10T82/00—Turning
  • Y10T82/25—Lathe
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
  • Y10T—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION
  • Y10T82/00—Turning
  • Y10T82/25—Lathe
  • Y10T82/2502—Lathe with program control
  • Y10T82/2506—And tool turret
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
  • Y10T—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION
  • Y10T82/00—Turning
  • Y10T82/25—Lathe
  • Y10T82/2566—Bed

Definitions

• This invention relates to a lathe having a lathe bed. a cutting station provided on the lathe bed and at which a cutting tool can be mounted, a guide mounted on the lathe bed and defining a guide path for guiding relative movement between a workpiece and the cutting tool, and drive means for relatively moving the workpiece and the cutting tool to engagement with each other.
• the present invention therefore seeks, in one aspect, to provide an improved design of lathe which allows for elimination of a traditional removable gap piece, while at the same time seeking to provide improved overall accuracy in operation, rigidity and enhanced wear characteristics of the lathe.
• a lathe having a lathe bed on which is mounted: a) a cutting station at which a cutting tool can be mounted; b) a guide defining a guide path for guiding relative feeding movement between a workpiece holder and the cutting tool; and c) drive means for relatively moving the workpiece and the cutting tool to engagement with each other: in which the guide comprises three parallel guide elements which are spaced apart from each other and relative to the centre line of the workpiece holder such that a permanent gap or cavity is defined in the lathe bed structure to provide a gap-swing facility and substantially without loss of guide-way support.
• the three parallel guide elements comprise a main front guideway, a tailstock bed-way, and a rear anti-roll guideway.
• the drive means may take the form of a usual lead screw arrangement.
• the cutting tool is preferably carried by a travelling assembly movable along the guide elements, and including two front carriages slidable along the main front guideway. and a further carriage unit slidable along the rear anti-roll guideway.
• the geometry of the arrangement of the guide elements, in relation to the centre line of the workpiece holder (main spindle centre line) is arranged, as indicated above, to provide a permanent cavity or gap in the lathe bed, and to allow for appropriate extra "gap-swing" which may be required, without the usual loss of slide-way support which naturally occurs when a traditional gap piece is removed in known designs of lathe provided with this facility.
• a lathe having a lathe bed on which is mounted: a) a cutting station at which a cutting tool can be mounted; b) a guide defining a guide path for guiding feeding movement of the cutting tool relative to a workpiece holder; and c) drive means for advancing the cutting tool into engagement with a workpiece when mounted on said holder; in which the lathe excludes provision of a removable gap piece, and in which said guide comprises three parallel guide elements which are spaced apart from each other and relative to the centre line of the workpiece holder that a permanent gap or cavity is defined in the lathe bed to provide a gap-swing facility and substantially without loss of guide-way support for the movement of the cutting tool.
• Figure 1 is a plan v iew of part of the lathe according to the invention:
• Figure 2 is a front view of the part of the lathe shown in Figure 1;
• Figure 3 is an end view and taken on sectional line X-X in Figure 2.
• a gap-piece is traditionally provided in existing designs of lathe, in order to provide, temporarily, an increased gap-swing capacity for a short distance in front of the usual face plate holding a workpiece, whilst the gap piece is removed.
• the lathe according to the invention excludes requirements for provision of a removable gap piece, while still providing a gap swing facility, and while at the same time also giving improved and increased overall accuracy, rigidity and wear characteristics to the lathe according to the invention.
• the lathe is designated generally by reference 10, and includes a lathe bed structure 11 on which is mounted a travelling cutting station assembly 12 which carries cutting tool 13.
• the bed 11 also mounts a guide which defines a guide path for guiding relative feeding movement between a workpiece (not shown) carried by workpiece holder 14 and the cutting tool 13.
• drive means for relatively moving the workpiece and the cutting tool to engagement with each other, and which takes the form of a lead screw arrangement 15.
• the travelling cutting station assembly 12 is slidable along three parallel guide elements, which constitute the tool guide, and which are spaced apart from each other, and also relative to the centre line 16 of the workpiece holder 14, which comprises usual main spindle centre line.
• the three parallel guide elements which make up the tool guide comprise a main front guideway 17, a tailstock bed-way 18 and a rear anti-roll guideway 19.
• a permanent gap or cavity can be defined in the lathe bed structure 11 to provide a guide-swing facility, and substantially without loss of slideway (guide wav) support.
• the cutting tool 13 is carried by travelling assembly 12 which is slidable along the guide elements, and comprises two front carriages 21 and 22 which are slidable along the main front guideway 17, which is a long narrow front guideway.
• the travelling assembly 12 also includes a less heavily pre-loaded carriage unit 23 which is slidable along the rear anti-roll guideway 19.
• a gap swing facility is provided, despite the absence of the traditional arrangement of removable gap piece. This is achieved substantially without loss of slideway support, which normally occurs when a traditional removable gap piece feature is provided, and upon removal.
• the embodiment of the invention can avoid the loss of accuracy, which is often introduced by non-perfect refitting of a traditional gap piece, after removal for "swing-in gap work".
• the length limit imposed by a traditional removable gap piece (to the desirably long and narrow) main guideway is also eliminated, thus giving opportunity to increase this length and consequently provide improved slideway accuracy, rigidity and enhanced wear resistant properties.
• the three point linear guideway configuration (the carriages 21 and 22 on the front main guide way 17 and the preferably less heavily pre-loaded carriage unit 23 sliding on the rear anti-roll guideway 19) allows for some geometric mis-alignment, thus further improving overall slideway accuracy. Furthermore, the low position of the main guide way 17 relative to the spindle centre line 16, together with the positioning of the lead screw 15 (near the main guideway 17, but between the main guideway 17 and rear guideway 19) causes major cutting forces to be absorbed directly into the main guideway 17, thus promoting maximum load capacity and further enhancing long term accuracy, rigidity and wear resistant characteristics.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Turning (AREA)

Priority Applications (5)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=10858753

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (10)

Families Citing this family (1)

Citations (7)

Family Cites Families (2)

• 1999
  • 1999-08-09 GB GBGB9918623.1A patent/GB9918623D0/en not_active Ceased
• 2000
  • 2000-05-17 TW TW089109492A patent/TW457147B/zh not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2000-05-30 BR BR0006989-2A patent/BR0006989A/pt not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 2000-05-30 EP EP00931452A patent/EP1202835A1/en not_active Withdrawn
  • 2000-05-30 CZ CZ20011258A patent/CZ20011258A3/cs unknown
  • 2000-05-30 WO PCT/GB2000/002060 patent/WO2001010596A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 2000-05-30 AU AU49403/00A patent/AU4940300A/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2000-05-30 US US09/806,392 patent/US6481319B1/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2000-05-30 CN CN00801619A patent/CN1319040A/zh active Pending
• 2002
  • 2002-11-08 US US10/291,224 patent/US20030084761A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2002-11-08 HK HK02108140.0A patent/HK1047905A1/zh unknown

Patent Citations (7)

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